Hour 2 - The Obamacare subsidy isn’t the problem. Obamacare is.

Summary

The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

Episode: Hour 2 - The Obamacare subsidy isn’t the problem. Obamacare is.
Date: December 31, 2025
Host: Brian Mudd (in for Clay & Buck)
Guests: Congressman Byron Donalds (FL), Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer

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Episode Overview

This hour focuses on the expiration of Obamacare (ACA) subsidies, critiques of the Affordable Care Act, ongoing government fraud investigations (especially the major child care fraud in Minnesota), and reflections on the impact of the Trump administration’s policies in its second term. Host Brian Mudd leads conversations around healthcare reform, government waste, and the pivotal role of state and federal oversight, with contributions from Congressman Byron Donalds and Florida’s AG James Uthmeyer.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Successes of Trump’s 2nd Term and Congress’s Role

[03:05–06:56]

• Donald Trump’s 20-Point Plan: Reflects on the rapid policy changes and reforms executed in Trump’s 2nd term, emphasizing border security, economic recovery, and ending foreign conflicts.
• Congressional Challenges: Rep. Byron Donalds describes the "Herculean effort" needed to pass Trump’s legislative agenda despite a narrow GOP majority and Democratic resistance.
• Healthcare Reform as a Next Step: Moving from blaming Democrats for Obamacare to taking Republican responsibility to fix it.

Notable Quote:
“Congress’s role… has been monumental. But we still have a long way to go.”
— Congressman Byron Donalds [06:38]

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2. The Path Forward on Healthcare Reform

[06:56–11:27]

• ACA Subsidies Expiring: Discussion around the end of COVID-era enhanced subsidies.
• Fundamental Regulatory Reform: Endorsement of a bill by Sen. Rick Scott and Rep. August Pfluger, aimed at cutting mandates, empowering consumers instead of insurance companies, increasing price transparency, and promoting association health plans.
• Critique of Subsidy Model: Argues that subsidies mask rather than solve the cost problem, keeping prices high and distorting the market.

Notable Quotes:
“Give purchasing power to people, let them make their healthcare purchases, get rid of the crazy mandates… allow a free-flowing marketplace.”
— Congressman Byron Donalds [07:58]

“More subsidies aren’t going to fix the problem. It’s only going to mask the high costs and costs are going to continue to rise if we don’t fix the problem. The problem’s Obamacare.”
— Congressman Byron Donalds [09:20]

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3. The Economics of Healthcare: Market Forces vs. Government

[11:27–12:49]

• Historical Perspective: Cites economists’ charts (Milton Friedman): when government subsidies are high (as in healthcare and higher ed), costs go up, quality goes down.
• The Problem with ACA: Argues ACA hasn’t worked for families and that Republicans must stop “fighting the last war” and instead act boldly for market-driven solutions.

Notable Quote:
“The worst way to spend money [is] spending other people’s money on other people… the price always increases, the quality decreases, you get more frustration.”
— Congressman Byron Donalds [11:48]

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4. Fraud in Federal Programs: The Minnesota Childcare Scandal

[12:49–16:18, 23:05–34:36]

• Expose of Major Fraud: Discussion about $8 billion in alleged fraud in Minnesota’s federal childcare program, with House Oversight hearings set to begin.
• Failures in Oversight: Byron Donalds and AG Uthmeyer hammer on lack of accountability, eligibility controls, and audit frameworks—characterizing blue states as more likely to tolerate or facilitate such fraud.
• Political Implications: Suggests Democratic administrations are complicit in fraud for political gain.

Notable Quotes:
“My gut tells me Minnesota is just the tip of the iceberg… I don’t think it’s incompetency. I think it’s complicity.”
— Congressman Byron Donalds [15:59]

“This is unbelievable corruption and gross negligence of epic proportions that can only exist after decades of systematic poor leadership.”
— Florida AG James Uthmeyer [24:56]

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5. State vs. Federal Responsibility & Solutions

[27:18–34:48]

• State Oversight in Florida: AG Uthmeyer discusses proactive fraud detection in Florida, emphasizing red-state accountability in contrast to blue-state complacency.
• Migration Trends: Asserts people are “voting with their feet” and moving to states with more accountability and better public safety.
• Praise of Whistleblowers: Credits journalism (e.g., Nick Shirley) for exposing fraud when governments fail.

Notable Quote:
“If you steal from the taxpayers, you need to go to jail.”
— Florida AG James Uthmeyer [30:28]

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6. Trump’s Policy Impact in Florida

[30:44–34:36]

• Results-Oriented Leadership: AG Uthmeyer highlights falling crime rates, crackdown on illegal immigration, and fighting fentanyl as direct outcomes of new federal and Florida policies.
• Calls for Future Focus: Sees “affordability” as the next big theme—property taxes, jobs for Americans, reducing abuse of labor programs.

Notable Quote:
“The President has delivered on almost all of his promises… If you support law enforcement, give them the tools… shut down the border… you do get results.”
— Florida AG James Uthmeyer [31:26]

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7. Healthcare Consumer Perspective: Insurance ≠ Care

[20:03–22:50]

• Misplaced Focus on Insurance: Brian Mudd calls out conflating insurance with healthcare, arguing that most people spend little out-of-pocket on actual care relative to insurance premiums, and that insurance often obstructs real consumer choice in care.

Notable Quote:
“Insurance does not equal health care. In fact, insurance for most people is an obstacle to health care.”
— Brian Mudd [20:28]

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8. Importance of Voter Participation & Local Accountability

[34:50–36:47]

• Elections Matter: Mudd emphasizes the power of local elections and urges listeners to be active at all levels, not to take reform for granted.

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Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• [04:52] “What President Trump came in and did is exactly what he told people he would do on the campaign trail. Day one, shut the border down... started moving to our economy.” — Congressman Byron Donalds

• [09:42] “The problem isn't the lack of subsidies. Obamacare is the crisis.” — Brian Mudd

• [11:48] “Milton Friedman said, the worst way to spend money [is] spending other people’s money on other people.” — Congressman Byron Donalds

• [15:59] “I don’t think it’s incompetency. I think it’s complicity.” — Congressman Byron Donalds, on blue states and fraud

• [24:56] “This is unbelievable corruption and gross negligence of epic proportions... when you are pro-welfare... this type of fraud is going to happen.” — AG James Uthmeyer

• [31:26] “The President has delivered on almost all of his promises... In big cities like Jacksonville, the murder rates have been cut in half over the last three, four years.” — AG James Uthmeyer

• [33:26] “The President has shifted the theme a little bit towards affordability... But we've got to find more ways to help people with, you know, the burdens they face every day.” — AG James Uthmeyer

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Important Segments & Timestamps

• Trump’s first 11 months & Congressional challenges: [03:05–06:56]
• Future of healthcare reform beyond ACA subsidies: [06:56–11:27]
• Economics of healthcare, the harm of government subsidies: [11:27–12:49]
• Preview of House Oversight hearing on MN fraud: [12:49–16:18]
• Detailed Minnesota scandal discussion (w/ AG Uthmeyer): [23:05–34:48]
• Trump’s impact on Florida policy & state approach: [30:44–34:36]
• Insurance vs. health care—consumer impact: [20:03–22:50]
• Voter engagement and local elections: [34:50–36:47]

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Tone and Language

The episode is direct, combative toward Democratic policies, and supportive of aggressive GOP reform. The language is unfiltered and conversational, blending policy details with critical commentary and political rhetoric.

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Summary for New Listeners

This hour argues that the expiration of ACA subsidies exposes deeper flaws in Obamacare itself, and urges direct, consumer-driven health market reforms. Interviews dissect the Minnesota childcare fraud as a case study in government waste enabled by poor blue-state oversight, contrasting it with Florida’s proactive approach. Throughout, the successes and challenges of the Trump administration’s second term are examined as evidence for the necessity of market-based reforms and vigilant state and federal oversight.

Listeners are encouraged to remain civically engaged, especially at local levels, with the message that policy—and its results—are ultimately determined by who shows up to vote.

Transcript

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[Brian Mudd]

Whether it's Minnesota and the fraud or Charlotte, North Carolina, Chicago, Los Angeles, those operations continue. And we're going to ramp that up. You know, we've got 10,000 new ICE agents coming on board, several thousand US Border Patrol agents coming on board. That is Customs and Border Patrol Command Commander Greg the Vino talking about ramping up operations, talking about the scandal in Minnesota as well. Nothing like an onion. Every layer you peel back there is more fraud. And it's like, holy cow, these people were ridiculous. And as we take a look at a couple of things, first hour, we walked through the 20 point plan to save America by President Trump. We walk through the successes. I'm going to have the receipts, the very specific receipts on that coming up later in the show, one of the men who has had a hand in that success congressionally, man, we've had that narrow House majority this year. None of it's been easy. But it happens to be Congressman Byron Donalds who's joining us now. He not only is congressman, he's also the Trump endorsed candidate to be the next governor of the state of Florida. It is good to talk to you, Congressman. Happy New Year.

[Congressman Byron Donalds]

Happy New Year to you, Brian. How's it going for you?

[Brian Mudd]

Things are going pretty well, I think, for a lot of people. Better than they even realize. One of the notes kind of going through Trump's 20 point plan to save America is that a lot of people I think take for granted how much success we've had in 11 plus months, in part because so much of it happens so quickly and so much gets accomplished every day. Tell us a little bit from your perspective and also congressionally what it's been like during this 11 plus plus month period of the second term.

[Congressman Byron Donalds]

Well, first, I think it's important in looking back over this year, you got to remember where the country was a year ago. Like a year ago, we were overrun. Open borders. Our economy was a flat mess. Prices were extremely high. Wages for every worker in our country were down. When you adjust them for inflation, you had stupid mandates coming out of the federal government I could go on and on and on. And so what President Trump came in and did is exactly what he told the people he would do on the campaign trail. Day one, shut the border down immediately started moving to our economy. In Congress, the part we played was getting his tax cut agenda, his energy reform agenda and his border security deportation agenda through Congress. And that was not easy. There were long conversations for months, Congress just amongst Republicans about how we were going to put it together, how much spending were we going to cut, what was that going to look like? And so it was a Herculean effort for the first six months of Congress. We were able to get that done. July 4th, the president signed that into law. And then we had to deal with the Democrats and their idiocy around government shutdown. We had to deal with that. We still need to reform the Unaffordable Care act, that monstrosity left to us by the Democrats. I think Republicans have a responsibility to fix it for all Americans. At this point, it doesn't even matter who fault it is. We got to fix it. Although it is the Democrats fault. Let me make sure that's crystal clear. But we have a responsibility to fix it. The president's plans around that makes sense. We're going to tackle that in a new year. But a lot's been accomplished. And last thing, and I don't want to filibuster, but the last thing this time last year there were eight global conflicts all looking to bring America into them. And President Trump came in and he started ending these conflicts. That's a tremendous success for a president coming in to one of the worst disasters ever left by our predecessor because Joe Biden frankly wasn't even governing the place. It was the auto pen and a bunch of radicals in his administration. And so the success of President Trump, Congress's role in that has been monumental. But we still have a long way to go.

[Brian Mudd]

Brian Mudd with Congressman Byron Donalds talking about the Trump successes here through the first 11 plus months and also what faces the country now. You mentioned health care. So today is that day. There had been a lot of debate. There was the longest partial government shutdown in American history and in large part centered around the ide idea of Obamacare subsidies being extended, the COVID era subsidies. So you talk about the path forward. What does that look like and you know, what is your thought as today those ACA subsidies do expire?

[Congressman Byron Donalds]

Well, the bill that I think is most promising has been offered by Senator Rick Scott and Representative August Pfluger. And what that bill would do is bring fundamental regulatory reforms to Obamacare, essentially changing the very nature of it so you get away from the crazy mandates that are driving up health insurance costs. Second big thing is it follows what the president wants to do. Giving those subsidies to the American people, letting them have purchasing power in health care as opposed to going directly to the health insurance companies. That's the design of the Democrats. They wanted to empower the health care companies. We need to be empowering the American people. We do that in Florida. When it comes to school choice in Florida, the decision that we made was we're going to give parents the purchasing power, not give it directly to the bureaucracy. So it's the same kind of philosophy. You give purchasing power to people, let them make their healthcare purchases, you get rid of the crazy mandates and allow for a free flowing marketplace. There's things like price transparency at hospitals, long overdue association health plans, we just passed that in the House before we left for Congress this year. But association health plans, what that would allow is, is if you have a bunch of auto body shops, a bunch of plumbers, bunch of electricians, they can actually create an associ. Add more people into that risk pool and actually have lower cost health insurance for those people or realtors or any type of association you can think about. These are all the things we should be doing in healthcare. But you have to take the subsidies away from these health insurance companies. People need to have that purchasing power for themselves to buy the health insurance that they need to get them access to care that they require for their lives. That's the path forward. We need to be moving that out of the House. And then if you want to talk about subsidies, subsidies are brought in at the tail end to try to help get people over this hump, which was created by Democrat policy. Because more subsidies aren't going to fix the problem. It's only going to mask the high costs and costs are going to continue to rise if we don't fix the problem. The problems, Obamacare. President Trump is right on this. So with Senator Scott and Representative Pfluger, their bill is, I think, the best bill out there right now.

[Brian Mudd]

I agree with you entirely. And if you are interested in the Rick Scott proposal, if you're interested in Trumpcare, if you will, on the third hour of the November 28th show, the day after Thanksgiving, when I was guesting for Clay and Buck, I ended up breaking that down. Comprehensive analysis. So go check out the Clay and buck podcast from November 28th and get everything on that. Now you're exactly right. The problem isn't the lack of subsidies. Obamacare is the crisis. And it's crazy that unless 92% of all policies taken out are paid for by people who don't use those policies and 80% of the cost of those insurance plans is paid for through these subsidies, then, then we have a crisis. All that does is make everything else less affordable for, for everyone else paying for their health care and then the, the subsidies for, for everybody on these exchange based policies. And it's not very complicated. We're really good consumers. If we're actually tasked with being consumers of healthcare, we're pretty darn good at finding a good deal. We just don't know what the heck anything costs. And it's back crap crazy for people to walk into a medical establishment, sign a piece of paper says I have no idea what the heck's going to happen when I walk through this door. The doctor at this point might not either. They can't tell me what it's going to cost and I'm going to agree to sign something that says whatever happens in there and whatever it ends up costing and whatever my insurance company doesn't pay for. I got it. I got that. We would tell anybody they're nuts if we had that happen in any other aspect of life, like walking through a store. So until we have legitimate consumer driven health care getting the government out of the way, we're never going to solve the problem.

[Congressman Byron Donalds]

Brian, if you look at economists have been sharing this chart for decades. You look at the industries that have little to no governmental subsidies. And what happens in those industries, prices are stable or they actually decrease over time while quality increases. But if you look at the industries, health care and higher education are number one, number two, where you have high levels of governmental subsidies, essentially what Milton Friedman said, the worst way to spend money, spending other people's money on other people. When you have situations like that, the price always increases, the quality decreases, you get more frustration. You're talking about doctors. The two most frustrated groups of people in health care today are doctors and patients. That's a problem and that's why it needs to have a complete overhaul. And I think Republicans, you know, instead of, look, here's the deal on Capitol Hill. I think a lot of Republicans, not all, but a lot, are still licking their wounds from the Obamacare battles of 2010 and 2014. But it is now proven that that plan is not working for families in our country. So instead of being, instead of fighting the last war, we need to be bold and we need to be aggressive, come out with our policies, push very strongly for them. And if Democrats decide that they don't want to go along with bringing real market centered, PA centered reforms into health care, then that's their responsibility, not ours. We have a responsibility to provide solutions. And President Trump is more than willing to lead the way.

[Brian Mudd]

Brian Mud with Congressman Byron Donalds. So week from today, the House Oversight Committee is going to begin hearings pertaining to the fraud in Minnesota. And I mentioned every time we learn more about this situation, it's like an onion, you peel back a layer and it gets far worse. You're on the House Oversight Committee. So tell us your thoughts about this at this point in the process and what you anticipate a week from today.

[Congressman Byron Donalds]

Well, at this point, I know that, you know, committee staff is going through all the details. We're going to come back, we're going to get a briefing book on all this and then we're going to start bringing in officials from the state of Minnesota. I think that these hearings are going to be very revealing, not just to what's happening in Minnesota, but to the real rot that goes on in these federal programs. So one, I'm very excited that we're finally having these hearings. I think they're overdue. Who needs to come in are Tim Walls and the attorney general, Ellison, Keith Ellison. They need to come in and testify under oath about these things. But the third thing, once the investigations are done, we have to go into the budget and we have to make sure that there are real audit controls around these programs if we're going to continue these programs. And I stress if, because some of these programs really have no business being the responsibility of the federal government. These are legacy projects, legacy programs that have been in a budget for a long time. Hard to get them out of there. But we have to do the heavy lifting and get that done because we can't have situations where billions of dollars are being wasted. Yet the American people are trying to scramble how to figure out how to make ends meet up. It's atrocious. And so, yeah, I'm all for the hearings, but the real work is going to be in the budgetary process. We have a government funding deadline coming up January 30th. I think that we need to have a full court press on exposing all of this stuff and then call the Democrats, quite frankly, in the Senate, call the Senate Democrats to the carpet. Are you going to actually reform spending in a meaningful way, make sure there's real audits, real eligibility criterias put in? Because what most people don't know. A lot of these programs, these grant programs, there's no eligibility framework that you can audit. They have a general, like, honor system eligibility framework, but there's no teeth to it. We got to put teeth into. These programs, require real accountability in these programs. And then you have to be willing to turn the money off if there's elements of fraud. And that typically does not happen in a lot of these grant programs that come out of the federal government. And that needs to change.

[Brian Mudd]

We have just about a minute left, but one thing that came to mind with all this is it remains to be seen if the Walls administration is incompetent or complicit. And while incompetent, seems very likely something that crossed my mind. We see this time and again with leftist states that are like, you know what? Supremacy clause in the Constitution doesn't really matter. I want sanctuary policies. I'm going to put sanctuary policies in. You know, we want illegal immigrants to vote. We're gonna go ahead and make that happen here. We've seen it with CDLs and everything. What are the odds that many federal programs are being abused by leftist administrations around the country because they're getting the money and then doing whatever the heck they want to with it?

[Congressman Byron Donalds]

They're very high. My, my view or my gut tells me Minnesota is just the tip of the iceberg. And I don't think it's incompetency. I think it's complicity. I think you have elected officials from heavy blue states who allow for this malfeasance to occur because political payback on the backside.

[Brian Mudd]

I think that is well said, Congressman. Happy New Year to you. Thank you so much for taking the time and may God bless.

[Congressman Byron Donalds]

Hey, God bless everybody. Happy New Year, everyone.

[Colgate Advertisement Voice]

See you.

[Brian Mudd]

And again, that is Congressman Byron Donald, also running to be the next governor of Florida. I'm Brian Mudd in for Clay and Buck. Keep up with the biggest political comeback in world history. On the Team 47 podcast. Clay and Buck highlight Trump replays from the week Sundays at noon eastern. Find it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Brian Mudd]

Whether it's Minnesota and the fraud or Charlotte, North Carolina, Chicago, Los Angeles, those operations continue and we're going to ramp that up. You know, we've got 10,000 new ICE agents coming on board, several thousand US Border Patrol agents coming on board as Customs and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bevino and the calvary on the way as operations do continue to ramp up. It's been an incredible 11 plus months as we're ready to ring in 2026. And this is going to be a pivotal year, critical year that is coming up. A lot of times people throw it away. Oh, it's the midterm election year now. Trump is, is on a mission and what he's accomplished against his 20 point plan to save America has already been remarkable. What needs to happen from here is going to be exceptional. One of the things that we're talking about a few minutes ago with Congressman Byron Donald's health care today happens to be the day that ACA subsidies will expire. And a lot of people are freaking out about that. And one of the things that really drives me crazy in this debate is the conflating of health care and insurance policies. Insurance does not equal health care. In fact, insurance for most people is an obstacle to health care. What do I mean by that? Let me give you just speaking of the ACA policies themselves, how much money do you think you spent all in on health care this year? Think about all your healthcare needs. How much do you think you spent? You got a number. If you're the average American, you spend just over 1500 bucks in actual health care stuff. Okay? That is the per person, average, all ages, all insurance statuses, but the actual stuff you needed. Now just speaking of the average ACA plan per person, you know how much that was this year? $5900. $5900. So where is the crisis? Is it the health insurance or is it that we don't have any money left for health care by the time we're done covering the cost of insurance so often is the issue. We got to talk back here. Looks like from my neck of the woods we've got Michael from South Florida. Well, feliz anyo, if it isn't Brian Mudd. Brian, you have been missed, my friend. Thank you so much for coming on the air. Congratulations for covering for Clan Buck. Plug your shows, where you are, what you're doing. Plug your shows all day on the show, please. Your voice is terribly missed down here. Your incredible coverage of South Florida.

[Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer]

Wishing you and your family an incredible.

[Brian Mudd]

Happy new Year and looking forward to seeing and hearing more of you next year. Appreciate the kind words. Be right back. Brian Mudd in for clean Buck, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton on the front lines of truth.

[Washington Post Advertisement Voice]

Department of justice as we speak is continuing to execute search warrants and subpoenas. People will be in handcuffs as a result of the fraud that Governor Walz has allowed to occur for the. For many, many years. The Department of Homeland Security is conducting door to door investigations on the ground at potential fraud sites.

[Brian Mudd]

Yeah. So the feds have stepped in because the state is incompetent. It complicit. Both made White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt on the fraud taking place in Minnesota estimates up to $8 billion and potential fraud could exist. I mean, it's got all the makings. You know, you talk about plots here. You got the Somalis, you've got people that are in on the fix, you've got incompetence, you name it here. One of the things I want to try to figure out is, okay, well, what, what would a competent attorney General do? How does something like this happen and play out for years without anybody seemingly noticing at the state level? Joining us is not the Attorney General of Minnesota, but rather one who is competent, who might be able to explain this to us, Florida's Attorney General, James Usmeyer. Happy New Year.

[Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer]

Happy New Year. Thanks for having me.

[Brian Mudd]

So what the heck, Just when you start mention, it's like an onion, you peel back a layer and it's like, oh my gosh, this is actually much worse here in terms of the, the fraud that is being uncovered. Can you kind of walk us through this situation and help us understand what we're seeing here?

[Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer]

Yeah, I mean, this is unbelievable. Corruption and gross negligence of epic proportions that can only exist after decades of systematic poor leadership. When you are supportive of illegal immigration, when you want to welcome people in from other countries and jeopardize our national security, when you are pro welfare and want to find ways to hand, you know, government giveaways to people, especially immigrants, this type of fraud is going to happen. So the only way to combat this, this is to expose it, put people behind bars, Significant, lengthy convictions that sends a message both to, you know, the fraudster consumers, but also to the public officials that may have knowingly allowed it to happen that the buck stops here, it will never happen again. And if you facilitate this madness, you're going to do a lot of time.

[Brian Mudd]

So the Department of Health and Human Services has said that they are freezing all federal child care payments to the state of Minnesota. And we talk about getting to the potential $8 billion figure in fraud. Talked about this going back to 2018. To your point, you know, one of the. Minnesota is a good trivia question. A lot of people don't realize that the bluest state has been Minnesota. The they are the oldest state to have voted for a Republican for president. You have to go all the way back to Nixon to find the time. Every other state has voted for Republican before then. In fact, Reagan, the one state he didn't clear was Minnesota, and that was by less than one point to Mondale. It happened to be his home state. And so to your point, that also has been president state politics as well. And so you've had this culture that has evidently allowed all of this to take place. There seemingly was this thought at the onset that by the AG Ellison, by Governor Walz, that they would just be able to dismiss this, you know, sweep it under the rug, say we're, we're investigating this. And then it kept getting so bad that now they're like, okay, well, we're investigating too, and we're getting tough. And. And what should a state be doing in a situation like this? If you came into this situation as Attorney General, what would you do?

[Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer]

Well, I think every state needs to be conducting significant oversight right now. I know in Florida, we certainly are. I mean, we started with our own DOGE operation several months back that's highlighted, you know, billions of dollars in fraud and wasteful spending at the local level, a lot of city and county commissions that are abusing taxpayer dollars, often with illicit means. Our Office of Attorney General has a Medicaid fraud unit that continuously goes out and looks at recipients of funding and ensures that money's going where it needs to be going for the right reasons. So I think states have a major duty to their taxpayers to shine a light, follow the money, and ensure that we're not engaged in wasteful spending and abuse. And we'll be doing it here in Florida. I know a lot of the red states are, and it's sad that blue states, you rightfully called out Minnesota as one that I think, you know, people are not aware how liberal it's been for a long time. It is certainly no longer a swing state. States like that appear to be the ones allowing the criminal activity to go on, not just in this context, but in, you know, murders and brutal crimes across the country. So it seems like Republican states are commonsensical and protecting consumers and promoting public safety, and the leftist states are the opposite. And so it's not a surprise that we see people walking with their feet and moving to states like Florida, Georgia, Texas and others.

[Brian Mudd]

Brian Mudd talking with Florida's Attorney General, James Uthmeyer. And one of the things we've seen in this situation with Minnesota is that you've had once again, the, the exposure by citizens, by those that are trying to do the work that Minnesota should have done in this case. Nick Shirley, who has had a instrumental role recently and showing, hey, you know what, some of these daycare facilities not been in operation for a long time. You have people that are seemingly being walked in and then they're walked out a few minutes later. In your professional opinion, is it possible to be this incompetent as an attorney general for something so pervasive to be going on? Or do you think that there could be more to the story here in terms of involvement within high levels of state government?

[Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer]

You know, I don't want to judge, but, you know, bring the verdict before the evidence has been fully assessed. But it seems difficult for me to believe that these large amounts of funds that have been fraudulently transferred could occur without certainly gross negligence, if not criminal conduct at the part of top level officials in the state. It's certainly malpractice for an attorney general to be at the helm and this type of activity to be happening right under their nose. And, you know, props to this investigative journalism. I mean, this young guy should get a Pulitzer for going in and having such, you know, well reasoned and documented evidence to highlight this gross abuse. So I'm glad the federal government's been on it. It's great to see HHS and the Department of Justice actively following this illicit behavior. I hope people do time behind bars. It needs to happen. We need to send a message. If you steal from the taxpayers, you need to go to jail.

[Brian Mudd]

One of the things that I did in the first hours, take a look at President Trump's 20 point plan to save America, what he ran on last year and what he has worked on and delivered, at least to a certain extent on every single one of those in the first 11 plus months this year. I think at times he can be a victim of his own success. Moving so quickly, having so much success, people kind of forget are like, what have you done for me lately? From your perspective as the Attorney General of the state of Florida, the impact of Trump's policies, what has the leadership there, what has it meant for you? What has it meant for your state?

[Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer]

Well, the nature of my role, I'm hyper focused on public safety and immigration enforcement. I think the President has delivered on almost all of his promises, if not all of them. I mean, everything from the no tax on tips, which you know, most people thought was a campaign gimmick and it sounded good but couldn't get done. And then, by God, he got it done. He said he was going to shut down the border for once and for all. And he did that. And we are seeing the positive ramifications of that. Fentanyl busts are down double digits in many parts of our state. You know, a very deadly drug, a new level of warfare product coming in from China over the southern border. And by shutting down the southern border, we have significantly diminished that threat to our families and our children. You know, a threat that people were struggling to find a cure for. But if you shut down the border, if you support law enforcement, which we've done, you know, in record fashion here in Florida, the crime rate goes down and we've got 50 plus year crime rates across the state. In big cities like Jacksonville, the murder rates have been cut in half over the last three, four years. So it's not rocket science. If you support law enforcement, give them the tools, the funding to be successful, shut down the border and stand by our brave law enforcement. You do get results.

[Brian Mudd]

Yeah. And then also the detention and deportation of the, the bad hombres. And one thing had become remarkable was that by the end of the Biden administration, the average non citizen in this country was nine times more likely to commit a crime other than being here illegally in the first place. People kind of look right past that. But greater than nine times more likely to commit a crime than say, you or me. The average American happened to be born here, so. So you take a look at year two that we're getting ready to head into with with Trump. What is it that would be most helpful from your perspective? Where do we need to. Where's their work to do?

[Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer]

Well, it's clear the President has shifted the theme a little bit towards affordability. I think a lot of people at home are struggling. I know they were excited to see record low gas prices this holiday season. So you know that the pro energy efforts are starting to show some benefits. But we've got to find more ways to help people with, you know, the burdens they face every day. Property taxes. We're trying to take a big chunk out of those here in Florida this year. Getting rid of a lot of the out of country labor that takes away jobs from Americans. Here in Florida, we have the number one university system. But I would say most of the calls I get are from, you know, big aircraft companies looking for labor, you know, abusing H1B programs when they have students at their fingertips that are here that just need some training and an opportunity to succeed. So I hope the President will continue in this effort in Florida. We're still going to be working to support him, to be his number one state ally. Clawing back abusive spending, doing our own state doge, finding ways to put more money into the pockets of our taxpayers and not corporate elitists.

[Brian Mudd]

To that I say amen. And certainly on the property tax piece as well. I definitely hope we make big time progress there. Florida's Attorney General, James of Meyer. Really appreciate the time. Happy New Year.

[Florida Attorney General James Uthmeyer]

Happy New Year. Always a pleasure.

[Colgate Advertisement Voice]

Thank you.

[Brian Mudd]

You bet. All right. So one of the things that we often, I think and talk about, it's easy to take for granted how much Trump has accomplished. One of the things that I think we often will do is not necessarily control what we can control. And, and one of the things that we can control the people that we put in place to make decisions. And a lot of people will talk about Florida and the things that the state gets right, the right people in the right places makes all the difference. You can only help people that want to help themselves at a certain level. And that's what we continue to see. So for a state like Minnesota, the crisis that's going on there, well, you have 50 plus years of them voting for the left and the waste, fraud, abuse, these types of problems, not necessarily a big surprise. And so controlling what we can control, turning out in elections at all levels. One of the things that drives me nuts is that you'll have local only elections and we'll often see Turnout that's below 30% across much of the country. A lot of people pay attention to the special elections that Democrats fared well in across the country this year, and they try to read a lot into it. But there is a question about why people who voted for Trump don't turn out. I mean, often it's the elections that happen closest to you that have the biggest impact in your daily life. And so that's one of the things we all can control heading into the midterm election year. It's not just about the midterm elections that's huge, but it's also about what happens close to us, too. I'm Brian Mudd in for Clayton Buck Saving America. One thought at a time. Clay trapped Travis and Buck Sexton. Find them on the free iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Brian Mudd]

White House press Secretary Caroline Levitt on the scandal in Minnesota that could run up to $8 billion and date back to 2018. Pretty remarkable. Hey there, Brian Mudd in for Clay and Buck. We're talking with Florida's Attorney General James Uthmeyer about that situation, talking about search resources. I mean, the scorecard so far in what has been uncovered. You had Attorney General Pam Bondi say that the Justice Department has been on it for months. You had Caroline saying, hey, we're surging resources there. Bondi said, so far, we've charged 98 individuals, 85 of Somali descent and more than 60 have been found guilty. And there are more prosecutions coming. So buckle up, lawmakers. We do know that the whole Somali connection where, you know, if anybody questioned, well, you're just being a racist, that had some play and why this went on for as long as it did. And that hits at the level of incompetence or if you did have the walls, administration that was complicit, either way, people look the other way. As soon as you had these Somalis that were, oh, you're, you're racist if you're going to investigate us. We have Matt in Connecticut who wanted to weigh in on this. Matt, welcome to the show.

[Congressman Byron Donalds]

Hey, thanks for having me.

[Public Investing Advertisement Voice]

You bet.

[Congressman Byron Donalds]

So the reason I'm calling is because I kind of made an interesting discovery. I was watching all this stuff. I'm looking at these facilities that Nick Shirley was videotaping. I noticed they're all like really small. And my wife's been in daycare in her career before. I'm in construction. I know when you build a commercial facility, a lot of these places require have space requirements. So I looked into it for the state of Minnesota. The state of Minnesota actually has a per child licensed 35 square foot usable space requirement. So what that means is if a facility is, excuse me, Sorry. If a facility is licensed for 99 kids, they need 3,465 square feet of usable space. So that this includes hallways, bathrooms, kitchens, offices. So you're talking about a facility that needs to be 4,000 square feet. The first facility that he actually put on video was the one with 99 licensed kids. It was in a strip mall. They also require outdoor facilities, 75 square foot per child, up to 30 kids. So forget kids being there, not being there.

[Brian Mudd]

Yeah, it's good work on your part and in fact, if you want a job with the the feds, your investigative work I think could go a long way. You might see about applying. So, yeah, there's a lot to the story for sure. And that's where you have to wonder, okay, okay. How much of this was known, how high? We're going to hear a lot more about that coming up a week from today when the House Oversight Committee hearings begin. Be right back with Trump's receipts from 2025. Brian Mutt in for Clay and Buck. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton on the front lines of truth.

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